A Character By Any Other Name

Apr 27, 2009

37880772thbI tend to rename my characters several times during the first draft… and I usually retitle my books as well. Ordinary Angels started out life as Angel In Blue Shorts. In that book, Alexander had originally been called Andrew (after the patron saint of Scotland) but a run-in with a friend’s asshole husband (who bore the same monicker) ruined that one. Zoë Pendergraft was originally Petula Pendergraft, but early readers hated the name Petula. Violently. I was shocked, truth be told because I loved it, probably because I knew a Petula once and she was an adorable woman.

Elana Johnson recently wrote about character names and which letters of the alphabet are popular.  Seems most of us saddle our heroines with ‘A’ names. Generally ‘A’ names are soft and feminine, like Abigail and Alana … Alison, Ariana and Andrea, … Adele, Amy and Ava.

My faerie is named Eilidh (a’-lee), which some may hate because unless you speak Gaelic or are Scottish/Irish enough to recognise the name, you might consider it unpronounceable. There are many names here that look strange to the eye, but sound nice, like my niece Niamh (neeve). So, I fully expect to have to change that one the first time an agent or editor crinkles up her nose at it.

How do you choose your character’s names? I like unusual names that are just this side of strange. My cop in the faerie story is named Quinton Munro, but I’m thinking that might be the wrong side of strange.

I swear I didn’t agonise this much over baby names!

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4 Comments

  1. Andy Shackcloth
    27 April 2009

    Much the same as you, first I come up with a place holder name that seems right and ‘speaks’ for the character, i.e. Robert Timms of Bettold, Tims and Sweeting. Would you believe he is a solicitor?

    But as the character grows through the novel I might/will change it.

    On choosing names, the back page of my journal(s) has a list of names that I dream up or come across during the day. These are my first stop when trying to ‘place’ a name with a character.

  2. Adam Heine
    27 April 2009

    I don’t like changing names unless I absolutely have to. That’s because the name is so much of who the character is. The last time I had to change a name mid-draft, I went back and re-read every place I used the name to make sure it still ‘fit’. It didn’t always.

    For my character names, I look at meaning, try to make it fit culturally (or at least personally – what would his parents have named him?), and all that. But the final decision is based on whether it has the sound and look I want (and does it stand out from other names in the story).

    Hagai, Sam, Ren, Fitch, Jacobin.

    Alex, Tom, Doce, Nazar, Arad.

    Phew, only two A’s! Though only one of these is female. Hm…

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  3. catie
    27 April 2009

    I like Quinton Munro, but being a (somewhat) ignorant American when it comes to Gaelic, it’s much more difficult to recall the correct pronunciations throughout an entire novel and not end up going with my own “interpretation” of the name. :)

  4. Anita Davison
    27 April 2009

    I agonise about getting the name right too, but avoid changing it once I have started writing the story, or the character starts to ‘grey out’ in my head.

    The problem with historical fiction is you need to use names of the time, and they weren’t quite so varied and colourful in 1660 than they were in1960. I do try to move beyond Ann, Elizabeth [although I love that one] Katherine, Mary, Margaret and all the derivatives of the above. Lettice was a possibility, but I kept thinking of salad, Patience reminded me of card games and Abigail is a 17th century word for a maid – as in servant. I chose Aaron for my hero and was told it ‘wasn’t period’ so had to prove it by quoting church records from Devon for 1668.
    So plenty of pitfalls there. My latest is Ambrose Deryngford, courtier circa 1595.